Julia took a big, deep breath through her nose, then let it out. Breathed in. Breathed out. In. And out. The heavily built, brown skinned woman stood behind the stage, arms folded, feeling the light sheen of cold sweat on her back, through her outfit. It was true that she had fought in many leagues in the past, yeah. But this place was the big leagues. Right now, she was starting at what she assumed to be the lower levels. Who knew how much of a contender her opponent was gunna be? A jobber, to let her in easy? That didn't strike Julia as very realistic. The AFW was known for a certain cutthroat attitude in regards to the girls duking it out in it's rings. This may well be a hazing match. Julia grit her teeth, determined to muscle her way to a win regardless.

Dressed in her dark blue leotard and mask, only her torso and upper face was covered--her muscled, brawny arms and legs were revealed quite clearly, as well as her jaw, struck into a determined expression. Through the fabric of her leotard, one could make out some paunch; she was heavyset. Some might even call her pudgy. Despite this, she obviously had quite a lot of muscle mass, as well. A lot of people asked about the mask, but Forge had never had a great response for it. She just liked feeling a little mysterious, even if it was dumb.

The notes of the generic rock music began to play, signalling it was time for her to step outside. She made a mental note to figure out a song to request. The woman rolled her shoulders, before running down the stage, the crowd an indistinct rumble. No one was all that excited to see her, which didn't surprise Julia all that much, honestly. She slid under the bottom rope and rose to her feet, crossing her arms and just looking imposing, waiting for her opponent to make their own debut.

_________________I'm going to try using one character at a time for a bit.

This was the moment Spider Kikuchi lived for. That little, fleeting pause between wrestling introductions, while the crowd was cooling down from one entrance, and getting ready for another. The boos were starting up, little bit by little bit, as the audience prepared for her music to start, like the first few droplets of tentative rain before the storm rolled in.

Then her theme began and the jeers came raining in. Priceless. Always loved it.

Spider came slinking out a moment later, a slick smirk on her face and sultry strut in her walk desptie the crowd’s clear disapproval. Their hate was a good sign - it meant that, even though she’d only had one match so far, people knew what to expect from her. Yes, they hated her, but hate was good. It was more useful, and far more entertaining.

She made her way down the ramp and crawled up on the apron like her namesake, pulling herself over the ropes. She stopped halfway, with her body folded over the highest rope - then, and only then, did she give her opponent a long look.

Big girl. Muscular girl. Strong girl. No shoes, either, and a mask. A rather barebones choice of attire, but it gave her a stark appearance along with the tanned skin.

”Lot of meat on those bones.” Spider casually hopped into the ring and started walking around her prey, casually stalking her while she checked her nails. ”Well-fed. I like that.”

Julia frowned a little bit as the crowd started booing. Well, that was a bad sign. The regulars, at least, had already become acquainted with this girl. She hadn't heard this song before, but it was certainly 'punk', and kind of had a raw sexual undertone to it. She was guessing her opponent was kind of the flirtatious type, judging by entrance music alone, with a dark twist, maybe? There was only so much you could guess from entrance music alone, though.

If Julia was pressed, she'd have to admit that her opponent was fairly beautiful. She had kind of a blonde dominatrix spider thing going on--a little silly, maybe, but probably tasteful considering what the heck usually went on around here. Her hair was pretty, but long. Might be good to grab her from. Her eyes were striking, too--violet? Maybe she wore contacts. She was wearing shoes, and Julia wasn't--that could be a problem, but Julia was used to it. Her not using shoes was a personal thing. Just didn't feel natural to fight with too much on.

She was doing some kind of spider crawl over the ropes when she finally locked eyes on Julia, obviously sizing the woman up. Julia snorted softly at her words. "You're kinda skinny. I like that too." She allowed a small smirk to appear on her face, hands on her hips. "Easier to squish."

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”Oh, you’re fiesty.” Spider Kikuchi clapped her hands and chirped, the most pleasant, twisted smile on her face. ”Fiesty is good.”

Fiesty was very good, actually. That was a complaint with her last opponent, Etzlicoatl. Talented girl, but she’d been a bit depressed when they started, and she never fully seemed to get over it. Julia was the best kind of prey. Eager, energetic, rowdy. She’d make the web wiggle.

”So you’re going to squish me, hm?” Spider stopped her circling as the referee called for the bell and stepped back, giving them ample space to work with. Good, too - she could already tell that manueverability would be one of her biggest assets in this match. ”Let’s get to it, then.”

Spider lowered her stance and raised her hands, offering a classic collar and elbow tie up. Not the smartest thing against an opponent like Julia - if she actually went through with it, anyway. If she were planning something else, though...

Julia decided she didn't like Kikuchi's face. It was pretty, sure. Pretty messed up! Seriously, she could look like a serial killer when she wanted to. Julia had heard this place was full of gal's like this; she best get used to fighting with them now. Not that Julia couldn't managed to be a bit of a jerk when the situation called for it, either...

She took a step back as Kikuchi did so, the woman not sure how things were done in the AFW. Was this protocol? She was extending her hands, offering a lockup, a test of strength. But... yeah, she was the 'heel', right? Julia snorted softly, stepping forward as if to take her offer, raising her arms up... before suddenly glancing behind her, like she had just heard someone calling her name.

She didn't like taking her eyes off her opponent, but, ehehehehe. She could be a little sneaky too, yeah?

She held that pose for a second, before whipping back around and running forward, swinging a brawny forearm, trying to catch Kikuchi across the chest with a surprise lariat--if these shenanigans worked, Kikuchi might just find herself flat on her back...

_________________I'm going to try using one character at a time for a bit.

It took all of Spider’s discipline not to have a good laugh when Julia started looking off to the side. Did she really think she was that stupid? Dumb enough to fall for such an obvious trick. Spider Kikuchi was a time-tested veteran, and there was no way such a simple rouse would distract her.

Spider Kikuchi looked off to the side.

She didn’t even think about doing it, she just did it. Pure reflex - when someone looks away, the first instinct is to see whatever it is they’re looking at. When she turned back, however, Julia was already on her, moving in with a surprisingly swift lariat.

”Guh!” The blow hit Spider’s chest and dropped her flat on her back, knocking the wind clean out of her. She crashed down hard on her back with her legs flopping up, before gravity took hold and made them both fall to the canvas, along with the rest of her body.

Sally loved lariats. The feeling of just laying an opponent out on their back... mmph. It could only be described as pure satisfaction. The woman put her hands on her hips, standing over spider. She stayed about two feet in front of her head, hands on her hips, grinning down at her. It wasn't a malicious smile, mind; more unbelievably, gratingly smug. Annoyingly proud of herself. Yeah, I just caught you with a stupid trick and sent you down onto the mat, it said. What are you going to do about it?

Julia decided not to make another move, though. Things, in her experience, tended to get complex fast, and she didn't consider herself that skilled in rolling around on the mat with her opponents. Wear her down while they stood in neutral. Once she had hurt Kikuchi more, she'd deign to kick her ass on the floor. And so she'd wait, just smirking down at her, waiting for her to get back up.

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Spider Kikuchi really hated lariats. You turned around and someone hit you in the face with their beefy arm and all the sudden you were on your back with a sore jaw and a hurting brain.

Oh, and she also had the priviledge of seeing her opponent look down on her with that undeserved grin. One that Spider would greatly enjoy wiping off her face when the time came.

She would have plenty of opportunity, too, because Julia didn’t deign to follow up on her advantage. Instead, she let Spider get back up to her feet, which she promptly did, making sure to stare daggers at her foe every inch of the way. Foolish. Quite foolish. Her plus sized opponent was cocky on top of it all, acting as if she'd scored the win after a glorified clothesline.

Spider began to slowly rise up, then had a sudden burst of speed as she lashed out. She swung her arm at Julia’s - admittedly impressive - chest and came at her with a vicious knife-edge chop.